Cult-Britain: FILM REVIEW: Spectre

To follow Skyfall, the first Bond film to make over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, was a tough challenge for director Sam Mendes and his team. Thankfully, they have succeeded in producing another great film with stylish direction and cinematography, excellent performances and interesting characters. Spectre builds on the foundations established in Skyfall and is more of a sequel than a standalone Bond film. As in the previous film, the role of MI6 is being questioned and the new M (Ralph Fiennes), Q (Ben Whishaw) and Miss Moneypenny (Naomi Harris) have significant roles throughout.

The ending to Skyfall suggested a return to Bond traditions by re-establishing a male M and bringing back Moneypenny, and the plot of Spectre does follow the traditional Bond formula. We follow our hero across the globe as he collect clues about a mysterious criminal organisation and on this journey he encounters glamorous women and evades a giant henchman, before eventually meeting the arch villain in his secret lair. Another restored tradition is the placing of the gun barrel sequence at the start of the film.

There are a number of subtle references to early Bond films (Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice notably) and Ian Fleming's original stories (Octopussy and The Hildebrand Rarity). There are also more obvious influences from classic scenes in Bond history. For example, the henchmen (Dave Bautista's Mr Hinx) interrupts a romantic train journey to fight Bond. Similar train fights have appeared in From Russia With Love, Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved Me.

However, Spectre is not simply an exercise in nostalgia. The film includes original and mysterious aspects such as the secret history between Bond and the villain Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) and the motives of M's British intelligence superior Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott). Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) is much more than a traditional Bond girl. Although she does serves as a love interest and damsel in distress, she also has her own emotional back story and is capable of saving Bond on more than one occasion.

One flaw of Spectre is that lacks many truly memorable action sequences. The highlight takes place in the pre-titles sequence: Bond fighting a villain on board an out-of-control helicopter. A car chase through the streets of Rome is attractively shot and includes moments of humour but is not all that thrilling. The final action scenes back in London are also slightly underwhelming and it is unfortunate that there are some similarities to the climax of this year's Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

Although not a classic action film, Spectre works a dramatic thriller. Despite its 148 minute running time, the film doesn't drag because it moves swiftly from location to location and cuts between Bond's mission and the political tensions back in London. It is also beautifully shot by cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema. Especially visually stunning are the opening tracking shot through Mexico City's Day of the Dead Festival and the shadowy Spectre boardroom meeting. Tense dialogue based scenes such as the meeting between Bond and Mr White (Jesper Christensen) are superbly directed and acted.

The film ends in a way which could satisfactorily conclude Daniel Craig's tenure as Bond. However, there is also potential for at least one more film in this continuity and having established a great chemistry between Craig, Fiennes, Whishaw and Harris, it is hoped that this MI6 team will stay together. Spectre is close in quality to Casino Royale and Skyfall and comfortably sits among the top 10 films of the whole 007 series.